Newsletter | December 11, 2023

Trivia question

Norman Lear, the pioneering television writer and producer who died last week at age 101, was born in New Haven but grew up mostly in Hartford, graduating in 1940 from one of the city’s public high schools. Which one?

a)   Bulkeley High School

b)   Hartford Public High School

c)    Weaver High School

For the answer, see the end of this newsletter.

Headlines

Connecticut native Norman Lear, iconic TV and movie producer, dies at 101 – CT Insider*

Norman Lear, whose comedies changed the face of TV, is dead at 101 - New York Times*

Developer closes $42M deal to bring apartments to Hartford's former Fuller Brush factory complex – CT Insider*

VIDEO: Big redevelopment project underway in Hartford's north end – WFSB-TV 3

Factory redevelopment in Hartford's North End to transform community by creating new housing - Connecticut Public Radio

AUDIO: Witchcraft uncovered: New discoveries and exonerations – Grating the Nutmeg podcast

Carbone's, a landmark Hartford restaurant, plans to move to Front Street — CT Insider*

VIDEO: Famed Carbone's restaurant making comeback in Hartford – Fox 61

December 7: A standout governor & the only Civil War veteran in the Baseball Hall of Fame – Today in Connecticut History

December 10: A Stage Show Entertainment Leads to the Discovery of Anesthesia – Today in Connecticut History

* Requires paid subscription, usually after a certain number of free articles.

Events calendar

Thursday, February 22, 2024

“Celebrating Hartford Public Library’s 250^th Anniversary,” 5:30 to 7 p.m., 500 Main Street. “Light refreshments, live music and a celebratory toast in the Center for Contemporary Culture, Downtown Library. Please join us!” More information

If you’d like to add your event, send the “who, what, when, and where” to Kevin@HartfordHistory.net.

Trivia question answer

C) Weaver High School, when it was still located on Ridgefield Street, in what is now the Martin Luther King Middle School (pictured.) From an article on Weaver that ran in the Hartford Courant’s Northeast Magazine in 1986:

Norman Lear (class of '40) was a "very lower-middle class" Jewish boy living on Woodstock Street when he first walked into Weaver. “We were always broke,” recalls Lear, now a successful television producer in Los Angeles whose creations include All In The Family, Maude, and The Jeffersons. “I can't say that I remember my parents taking a lot of interest in my schooling, but I do remember a particular teacher there, Melvin Crowell, who I think had the greatest influence on me. Somehow he convinced me that I could write.” With Crowell's prodding, Lear became the gossip columnist for the school newspaper, a member of the debating club, and a writer for the drama society. An unflinching punster and dauntless figure in his houndstooth jacket and greased-back black hair, Lear became such a popular student that classmates nicknamed him “King.” His outgoing manner and talent for public speaking also won him Hartford County's American Legion oratorical contest in 1940 and a college scholarship.

Source: Hartford Courant, July 20, 1986, Page 176 (Northeast Magazine) via Newspapers.com: accessed December 10, 2023.